Take It All
by Moose Voose
Summary: "You like having the power over me. Well, you can have it. You can take it all," I said. I felt my voice catch. "I don't want any of it if this is who you are. But I'll always love you, against my better judgment. So you can have it."


**Take It All**

**By: Moose Voose  
**

**A/N: **I wrote it, didn't feel like sending it to my friends, so I took the easy way out: I've decided to publish it. Who knows, maybe somebody else might get a kick out of it. Rated T because can you have a K story with Riddle? No way. Really confusing conversation with a Riddle who's off his rocker. It got through to him, so... Cue my "can't-help-it" shrug.

**Disclaimer: I don't technically own Tom Riddle. But I do own the idea of giving him a life J.K. Rowling didn't feel like giving.**

* * *

"That's right." I said, catching him by surprise as he shoved past me. "You can take it _all _away. You can take away my life. You can take away my family. You can away my home, my land, my pride. You can take away my dignity, you can take away my rights, you can take away my sense of security and everything I've ever loved. You can take away my sanity. But you won't take it unwillingly."

"What?" He asked, voice quiet and deadly.

"You like having the power over me. Well, you can have it. You can take it all," I said. I felt my voice catch. "I don't want any of it if this is who you are. But I'll always love you, against my better judgment. So you can have it."

"Is that so?" Suddenly he was in front of me again, blue eyes intense and full of fury. "You going to sit there and smile at me when I cut out your little brother's tongue?"

I felt my breath catch, and I felt my heart breaking as I spoke. "No, I won't. But I'm not exactly the smiling type anyway." I found myself staring at the wall beside me, my cheek burning and ears ringing.

"You can't give it all to me," He breathed, drawing close to me. "You don't know how."

I felt betrayal so strong that I really, truly couldn't breathe. "Life without the man I love is no life at all. So you can have it," I repeated.

"The man you love is _gone_!" Tom roared. "He doesn't _exist!_"

"I know!" I screamed back. "_But just because he's gone doesn't mean I won't always love him_!"

He looked haunted then as he drew away, the shadows playing on his face.

"You just got it, didn't you?" I laughed bitterly. "There's nothing left to take—you already have it all." He couldn't hurt me anymore because I'd made sure my heart was thoroughly broken. I'd say my goodbyes to my family. I'd said my goodbyes to the man I love. I'd already been tortured in my mind—the real thing would hurt no more, but it certainly wouldn't be any less exquisite.

"Why can't I have it?" Tom yelled, eyes glinting murderously. "_Why can't I have what I want_?" With a violent push, I went skidding into the wall, hitting at just the right angle to make my vision darken and the world around me sway.

"Maybe," I murmured as I struggled to orient myself, my ears hot and my body numb, "you don't know what you want in the first place."

"I want you to _see me_ as I am. I want you…I want you to know what I am," Tom said, crouching in front of me. His hand reached out of gently caress my cheek…as he used to. I began to cry softly.

"You don't want to hurt me," I breathed. "The only person you're trying to hurt is yourself."

"_What?_" Tom demanded, grabbing a fistful of my hair.

"I see you," I said, staring straight into his eyes. "I see everything you are. I see the bruises on my body, I can see your face as you tried to steal everything away from me. You have everything I can give you. But you don't want me to hate you. You want me to hurt you. You want to see the look on my face when I realize how much I hate you. You want to see a monster when you look in the mirror because you don't think you can be anything else. You want to erase every old part of yourself. To do that, you thought you had to erase my love."

"You don't know anything," Tom whispered, but he was drawn within himself now. He stared at the wall behind me.

"The old Tom…would die if he saw himself do this to me. So you're trying to hurt the old Tom. This isn't you—this is you losing control," I said. "You think this is the only part of you there is, that this was inevitable."

"Shut up," He whispered.

I ignored him. "Didn't it hurt, just a little, when you slapped me? Didn't a part of you hurt? Because I know he's still in there, and I know he loves me too. I know you do love me. But I also know you're letting yourself become a monster who can't love, and I can't reach you."

"_Shut up!_" Tom yelled, yanking my hair. I let out a soft cry of pain.

"Maybe if you spent less time trying to hurt me and more time actually facing yourself, you'd figure this all out!" I yelled. "Get your act together, Tom Marvolo Riddle! You ought to be ashamed of yourself!"

"_You think you know me_?" Tom yelled, his eyes growing glassy and red. "You think I was such a good person? Well, how come I killed my _parents_, if I'm so great? Third year—I burned my father and grandparents. Is that the good little Tommy boy you knew?" Tom's chest trembled.

"I didn't love a man who was perfect…" I jutted out my chin. "But I also don't love a murderer. Tom would never have meant to."

"Didn't I do it?" Tom demanded. "Didn't I light the house on fire?"

I began to laugh, a bitter, throaty laugh. "It was an accident, wasn't it? You must have been so upset that you lit the place up. And only you made it out. And now you've convinced yourself it happened for a reason…That's it, isn't it?"

"You…don't know…"

"Tom…" I leaned forward and caressed his cheek. "Do you feel that? That's my love. That's happiness, contentment…don't pretend that anything but this will make you happy. I'm the only one in the world who can make you feel this way. No amount of power, money, respect, or life with make you feel the way I do. Quit fooling around and let me love you."

Tom closed his eyes. "You're lying." He began to shake his head, face contorting. "You don't love me. Not anymore. You said that man was gone." He began to draw away. "You just don't want to die. You're pretending to love me, but we both know he's long gone."

I swallowed. "No. I didn't."

"I should have known." He raised his wand then.

"_Tom! If I had claimed that you hadn't changed, you would have killed me!_" I yelled. "I wasn't sure you were still in there then…but now I am. You know how I know?"

"_Tom is gone!_"

"No, he's _not_. Tom is pushing me away. Tom hates himself. Tom can't stand to be with me anymore. If you were really the monster you say you are, you wouldn't be killing me. You're just afraid of what I'll say. When you thought I lied to you…it hurt you. You felt rejected. You're _my _Tom, playing dress up."

"You don't know anything!"

That's when I looked him right in the eyes. "Please…don't hurt me again."

That's when he crumbled. That's when he fell to the floor sobbing. And that's when I knew: I hadn't lied. For even though I knew he wasn't safe, even though I knew he didn't know who he was, even though I knew a part of him wanting to hurt me and everything I hold dear, I still love him. I know he's in there. I just had to find him.

My ears still ringing and my vision still unfocused, I crawled forward, and I wrapped my arms around him. I was done with us crying separate alone. This time, for as long as he'll let me, I will share his pain. Maybe he'll believe me this time. Maybe he'll finally get it: I love him.


End file.
